Bridges Made of Boats / Puentes hecho de barcos: Public Paddle with Make the Road New York

North Brooklyn Boat Club’s public paddles are free and open to everyone and are one of the most important things the club does. NBBC is a community organization dedicated to enabling and advocating for access to and preservation of the waters of New York City for the community of North Brooklyn. And it is on these days of public access that we are best able to share what we do with our neighbors.

This summer, we have been inviting other nonprofit North Brooklyn community organizations to join us and relax from the hard work of making the world a little bit better.

On June 10, it was our pride and pleasure to share the public paddle with Make the Road New York. Make the Road New York “builds the power of Latino and working class communities to achieve dignity and justice through organizing, policy innovation, transformative education, and survival services.” This is a mission that NBBC can fully support.

We think that seeing the world from the water renews our connection to it, renews the impetus to struggle to make the world better. We think that being on the waters of New York, in a boat powered only by the people in it, immerses us in the city’s history, in the ecology of our estuary, in the long struggle for dignity and peace around these waters, and in the power of our local community — immerses us even as we float upon it!

So we welcome our neighbors and our fellow community organizations to the boatyard to see the city the way we love to see it — from the water.

For a collection of images from the June 10 public paddle, please see our Paddle Gallery. And please consider supporting Make the Road New York with your time or money as they continue the struggle to set all New Yorkers free from injustice and discrimination, from poverty and want.

It was our great pleasure to invite Make the Road New York to paddle with us — you should join us, too, as we break tradition by building bridges on the water!